Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe

When I gave the terrific recipe for the Caramelized White Chocolate, which I learned to make at Valrhona’s chocolate school, I’d hoped that many of you would use it to create your own concoctions. While no one came up with my favorite (stirred into oatmeal!), there was a lot of creativity put forth as people made everything from Caramelized White Chocolate Bars to a spread for a buttery, flaky croissant.

I’ve listed the ones I found at the end of the post, but I wanted to give the ice cream recipe I’ve been making this summer.

It’s very simple to make and the payoff is that the caramelized white chocolate flavor comes through loud and clear, enough so that if you wanted to serve it with a cherry compote or some sliced and sugared nectarines, the flavor is bold enough to stand up to those fruits.

Similarly, I think this would accompany a chocolate cake perfectly. Or use it to fill cream puffs and douse them with warm chocolate sauce, or drizzled with additional caramelized white chocolate.

This batch got paired with a scoop of frosty-cold Nectarine Sorbet, which I made from the overload of nectarines I couldn’t help picking up at the market where the vendors were practically giving them away, since the season is in full swing. Taking advantage of their generosity, and the super-low price, I lugged home two kilos, about 4 pounds, and now have a very full freezer—which is often the case around here.

But even if you have a full freezer of other flavors, this ice cream is one you’ll want to make room for. Just don’t expect it to last very long in there. As you can see, I’ve already made a sizable dent in mine.

Caramelized White Chocolate Ice Cream

Makes about 1 quart (1l)

Make sure the caramelized white chocolate is warm when you mix it with the cream. You can reheat it in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave on low power, stirring until smooth.

There’s a few suggestion above for how to enjoy this ice cream, but I found it’s also intriguing with a few flakes of lightly-smoked sea salt flecked over the top.

8 ounces (240g) caramelized white chocolate

1 cup (250ml) heavy cream

2 cups (500ml) whole milk

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

5 large egg yolks

1. Mix the warm caramelized white chocolate in a large bowl with the heavy cream, and set a mesh strainer over the top.

2. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the milk, sugar, and salt.

3. Whisk together the egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in half of the warm milk, then scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof utensil, until the mixture thickens and coats the utensil.

5. Immediately pour the custard through the strainer into the white chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Put the bowl in an ice bath, and stir until cool.

6. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

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72 comments

Hi David,
I would love to pick your brain about an idea I have for an ice cream business (I am in Vermont – sort of Ben and Jerry’s land) that I am thinking of starting. It may be totally crazy but it may be great and I wanted to run it by someone who I respect and knows a lot about the food world and specifically, ice cream world.
Would you consider listening to my idea and then giving me honest feedback? I assure you it wouldn’t take a lot of your time and I only want to bounce the idea off of someone that knows the logistics of ice cream as a business.
Laurie

This sounds amazing! White chocolate is not something I care for on its own but it does offer a wonderful flavour when it is blanketed by other chocolates or caramel. I throw sea salt into everthing ( more so than what a recipe calls for ), It must be amazing sprinkled over this ice cream!
Thank you for sharing.
~Valerie.

If I had any extra euros I would back your ice cream business in a heartbeat, David. I would also buy my own ice cream machine. (Though actually, given the frequency of my visits to Pozzetto and Grom, I’m pretty sure an ice cream machine would pay for itself in no time…)

Ok, you open the door for this with your comment. You need to open an ice cream shop in Paris! I’m sure there would be plenty of investors lining up to back you. You already have a strong fan base with the books, the blog, and with your articles in the American media. For most of us, looking at your ice cream pictures is the closest we would get to tasting your crazy creations for now. I’m sure your shop would be in a lot of foodies must-visit lists.
Think about “The Perfect Scoop” Paris – NYC – LON – Tampa. lol. Make it happen!

I’ve been holding off on an ice cream maker purchase for lack of kitchen space. The idea of having the means to craft caramelized white chocolate ice cream at home is the catalyst I need to MAKE ROOM for the machine…and, a box of smoked sea salt…

I’ve been meaning to thank you since I first found your blog, because without the tips and recipes you provide I’d never be anywhere as good at making desserts otherwise. I suppose this blog might be my cooking school. You make some of the most astounding desserts I’ve ever seen, with a few ingredients from time to time that I’ve never even heard of. For instance, I never knew you could caramelize white chocolate, and now I have a great recipe for a caramilized white chocolate vanilla bean macadamia nut cheesecake that’s almost dangers to tell anyone about; they have threatened to break in to my apartment for food. But to cut this short, thank you for loving food more than me, and making new ways for the world to enjoy it.

You’ll probably think I’m crazy for asking this but humor me. The caramelized white chocolate (CWC) recipe says it yields 1 cup or 250ml. This recipe asks for 8 ounces or 240g of the CWC. 8 ounces isn’t always 1 cup but is it in this recipe? TIA for helping out a measurement geek.

just wondering what kind of ice cream maker you are using? Is it a Cuisinart frozen canister type or a more elaborate countertop built in freezer sort of thing. I am considering purchasing the latter as I don’t really love my Cuisinart/Donvier gadget.
love your blog, posts, books etc. congrats.

I never got around to writing you when my friends and I made the caramelized white chocolate. It was during cherry season (here in Calif.) and we had a cherry fest with the addition of caramelized white chocolate stracciatella – vanilla bean ice cream! And we did serve it with the candied cherries we made!!! Thank you for an amazingly delicious recipe! A friend left my house with some CWC and smeared it on fresh sour cherry scones. Yum.

I’ve been reading the blog for quite some time now. But, more recently, I’ve been reading it with a new found enthusiasm as I just bought my first ice cream maker (and “The Perfect Scoop” of course). I tried out the French Vanilla and it was a huge success, so THANKS! In fact it’s almost gone and it’s only been…2 days. It’s fate that you should post an ice cream recipes just days after I got my ice cream maker. I think it will have to be next on my list.

Hi,
I live in San Francisco and am a pastry student at Tante Marie’s Cooking School. Last week, Alice Medrich did a demo for our class…and she made caramelized white chocolate ice cream! Go figure! She served it in a coconut tuille cone, and said that she had been toying with other ideas about what to pair with it but was somewhat perplexed in that department. She brought some smoked sea salt for us to try (inspired by your blog entry). On it’s own, the ice cream was too sweet for me…but wow…the smoked sea salt made it SO delicious. I popped a fresh raspberry into my mouth at the same time..’twas grand. Thanks for your writing…it makes my life better.

I meant to make myself a Charlotte Cecile for my birthday as I just love it and then realized I should probably try doing the vanilla mousse layer as a caramelized white chocolate mousse layer instead. Whaddaya think? As the vanilla mousse layer is a creme anglaise mixed with whipped cream, looking at your recipe it looks like the same straightforward substitution for the vanilla. But I’m wondering if I should mix the white choc. with the whipping cream before I whip it since you mix the white choc. with the cream instead of infusing the milk with it?

Like a lot of other people, though I love chocolate, I’m not a big fan of white chocolate. It’s always too sweet, to me. Or maybe I’ve just never had really good white chocolate. Per your past discussions of too-sweet American everything, how sweet would you say this white chocolate is (whether just the caramelized recipe or the ice cream, or both)?

Can this ice cream be made with less egg yolks or would it get too icy for the chocolate? I guess my question really is, can most ice creams be made with 2 or 3 yolks and still work or be an acceptable adaptation?

Brilliant! Now I know why I put an ice cream machine on my wedding list! FYI your book ‘The Sweet Life in Paris’ arrived courtesy of your link to amazon today- I hope you get some extra bucks for direct business! looking forward to starting. :)

As someone who actually likes white chocolate to begin with (I’m telling you, white chocolate haters–you have to try the good stuff, don’t be fooled by the cheap junk), the idea of caramelized white chocolate is a double thrill. I’ve been trying to think how to use it and wonder if in general I could swap it into recipes using dulce de leche? Thank you!!

Hilda: It sounds like a terrific idea but you’d just have to try it and see if it works. You may need to add some of the liquid cream to the white chocolate to loosen it up, whip the rest, then fold it in.

Skippy: Yes, you can. It does become solid at room temperature, unlike dulce de leche, but the taste and sweetness are similar.

Susan: If you use less yolks, it will be icier and harder in the freezer. I try to lower the fat in most of my recipes (some other ice cream recipes call for all cream, and/or up to 8 to 10 yolks) so in general, I don’t advise veering from my recipes, unless I indicate that one can, simply because I spend quite a bit of time developing the recipe as presented & want readers to have the best results : )

sweet life…. amazing life ! I hope you feel amazing ! … and I hope I get an ice cream maker for my b’day!

sidebar: a little news from back home
just like paris but it is san francisco – train strike !

OAKLAND, Calif. — The union representing train operators and station agents for the San Francisco Bay area’s commuter rail system said Thursday it would go on strike Monday.
The move involving the nation’s fifth largest commuter rail service would leave hundreds of thousands of Bay Area Rapid Transit passengers stranded on both sides of the bay and clog highways and bridges with traffic.

Thank you for your ice cream recipe. Wonderful! I don’t have any ice cream machine but you are tempting me here. I will give it a serious thought. In fact, even if it’s a bit fatty when one makes real ice cream, it’s still good food, healthy and no chemical in it. So I think maybe it’s better to have the best sometimes than have ordinary often. What do you think of this?

But, the primary ingredient you use in this recipe: caramelized white chocolate… I don’t know how to find it. Is it presented in bars we cut, like dark chocolate? The one I know about is only called white chocolate. Is there another way to name it? If not, how do I substitute or modify what we have in our groceries? Thank you for your advice.

Anyway, your blog is so pleasant and convivial, I really like your commentaries and your simplicity. You really are generous and I appreciate being in contact with people who like to share, as I do myself.

Hmmm. I seem destined to finally cross your path. Two days ago I reserved your “A Sweet Life” book at the library, on the urgent insistence from an artist I don’t really know. And yesterday I thought I’d browse the internet for green almond recipes to see what I could’ve made with the ones I bought if they’d actually been green almonds, et voila, your website popped up. Although I guess one can’t add comments to archived articles. Eh bien. As for the artist, I went to her annual exhibition/sale about a year ago, and recently e-mailed her to stay on her mailing list, like I have money. She wrote back and said absolutely, because she knew exactly who I was – the one who gave her the wonderful beef daube recipe that she had since lost. Now, I’ve babbled a lot of stupid things in public venues, well, private too, but I sure don’t remember this one; although it’s possible, because she did let me play with her cookbooks, and I could have been rendered senseless. So I sent her the recipe, and she told me I absolutely HAD to read your book. Normally I would just buy it, but I got burned with Bourdain’s book, only getting to the third chapter before giving up. What a pompous jerk. Plus it seemed like on every page I got hit with, “By the way, did I mention I’m straight?” You did, so mazeltov already. Anyway, nothing personal, but I figured this time around I’d sample the drugs before buying. As for the green almonds, my local ethnic market had them several weeks ago. I’d never seen them before but knew of them, was surprised to see them because I thought they were “in season” back around March. I bought a pound, only to discover that, indeed, they WERE in season back in March but now were nearly fully ripe almonds. Which explains why they were only 79 cents a pound. Bereft and shattered and at that point a bit tipsy from champagne cocktails (a barware store opened up in my funky neighborhood that sells about 13 different kinds of bitters), I did what any rugged jock would do and chopped some up and threw them in with some haloumi cheese fried in a little grapeseed oil, garlic, preserved lemon (I make my own), and anise hyssop. Came out GREAT. The rest I chopped up and incorporated into a green olive tapenade with garlic, some rosemary and olive oil. It made for a wonderful amuse bouche with some cheese, champagne grapes, rosemary bread, and cherry tomatoes from the garden. So it all worked out.

Ice cream in oatmeal? My father used to top our Cream of Wheat with vanilla ice cream and until now I’d never heard anyone reference anything even close. You are the first. We loved it–rich cool sweet cream melting over breakfast…yum. I’m sure your version, caramelized white chocolate ice cream stirred into oatmeal, is superb!

Dare I say that ice-cream making is probably something I really do not do enough. I have two Kitchen-Aid ice-cream bowls in my freezer, but no homemade ice-cream. How terrible. I may have to dedicate a month to it on my blog. Actually, that’s not a bad thought!

I put a big spoonful of the caramelized white chocolate itself in the oatmeal, let it melt a bit, then stir it around slightly. (Not too much, such I like ribbons of it.)

Phoo-D: I put plastic wrap on top of the ice cream once it’s hardened to prevent ice crystals from forming on top. I don’t do it if I’m planning on eating the ice cream soon (because I’m frugal with the plastic wrap) but it does help if storing it for longer than a few days.

Hi David, I just wanted to not thank you because I just moved to a new city and started a new job, which is a LOT of work… which I am not doing because I can’t stop reading your new book :) I might have to buy another copy and give it to my new boss so she can understand my predicament…

Oops…looks like I was reading too quickly and seeing what I wanted to see versus what was actually written. That being said, I am crazy enough to try ice cream in oatmeal and plan on giving it a go. It was so good in Cream of Wheat. I’m sure it will be tasty. Maybe you should get a little crazy and try it too ; )

I am loving all of the ice cream recipes floating around the food blogs right now. This one sounds sinfully delicious. Oh, and speaking of float… what is your favorite liquid suspension for this frozen bit of heaven? Cherry soda? Or Cherry Coca-Cola perhaps? I hear a hammock calling my name :)
-Michaela

Hello, David!
I’ve been reading and enjoying your blog for several months now. I recently finished reading The Perfect Scoop & The Sweet Life in Paris, (with deckled edges, yay!), both very enjoyable reads. The first recipe I tried from TPS was the Butterscotch Pecan, with the Perfect Pairings, and it was divine. Thank you!
I’m one of the purists who says that there is no such thing as white chocolate, (it’s all because of a bad experience with a white “chocolate” Easter bunny when I was about six…details would be TMI). Nonetheless, you convinced me to try the real thing. The easiest thing for me to get my hands on was Green & Black’s, which claims it contains at least 30% cocoa butter. While the caramelization process was underway, I tasted some of the leftover chocolate, and I’m still not a fan, but that’s why restaurants have menus, right? Sadly, the chocolate turned grainy before it had barely begun to caramelize. I continued on, undaunted. Once it had finished, I tasted it, and have to admit it was much better tasting. Because I am making the CWC ice cream with it, I just scooped it into the bowl containing the cream and used my immersion blender to smooth it out. That worked out beautifully. I tasted it again, and it was all I could do not to drink the whole thing! After adding the custard, the flavor was further improved, which I didn’t think was possible. The base is chilling in the refrigerator now, and I can hardly wait to pop it in my Cuisinart.
Thanks for all that you do to add some additional sweetness to life.
(Sorry about such a long post.)

I am reading your book, The Sweet Life in Paris, as part of my preparation for an adventure I am undertaking. I retired from Corporate America within the past year, and want to pursue my passions around food/cooking and Paris. Initially I thought of going for a certificate at Le Cordon Bleu, but after reading “The Sharper Your Knife…” I didn’t think it was exactly what I was looking for.

Then, I saw your list of cooking schools in Paris. My idea is to go for a 60 – 90 day immersion, take classes from a number of different sources, picking up both technique as well as being exposed to any number of chefs/teachers. While I have been cooking for years, I would classify myself as a novice. Any recommendations to help me narrow the list?

David – I made this ice cream last night and tossed in 1/3 cup of cacao nibs when scalding the milk. Rather than strain them out after steeping, I left them in the final mix for a little added texture. The result is fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing the caramelized white chocolate technique.

Nice to meet you and the other followers (this being my first post :-)).

I tried to make the caramelized chocolate with good results. I used the “supermarket” chocolate and the result was really dry, it almost turned into dust (or earth-like) consistency.

Anyway, a bit of fresh cream turned it into something that looked like the final result.

I really wanted to make the ice-cream, but lazyness got me first and I ended up serving it like this: in a small glass individual bowl, a generouse teaspoon of caramel, some diced mango and peach, and about 100 mL of my liquid “homemade” yougurt.

There are a lot of white chocolate makers that don’t express the cocoa butter percentage in their packaging (at least here in Brazil).

All of them have the nutritional facts, though. Would it be possible to guess which chocolate is better by checking the total and/or saturated fat content? I would guess that lower saturated fat means lower milk content… Would it be reasonable to assume that the non-saturated fat is cocoa butter (assuming the ingredients list shows no “vegetal grass” or something like that)?

Yum! I made this last weekend with sugar roasted peaches from the farmer’s market and they were like a song. Delicious each on their own, but complete magic together. I carmelized the white chocolate the night before I made the ice cream and when I took it out of the fridge it was like a solid block of sand – think old brown sugar that hasn’t been sealed tight. I didn’t think it would ever turn soft but several minutes in the microwave at half power did the trick. Raves! Thanks, David. LOVE the site and The Perfect Scoop. Mwah.

You are an evil, evil man. First your salted butter caramel ice cream which incidentally is the BEST ice cream I’ve ever eaten (and I was the star of the BBQ I hosted when I served it). But now this! My goodness, my derriere was supposed to be getting SMALLER this summer, not WIDER.

I quite agree with Jenny, you must be evil (though in the nicest possible way).
First you tantalise me with caramelised white chocolate and then with ice cream too. My strength gave way yesterday and I have made both. The thing is, I have had to go the gym 2x since buying the white chocolate and there is another 2.5kg in the bag. This is torture!
I documented my attempts at making your recipe on my blog – I’m a newbie so any hints much appreciated.
Another bowl of ice cream and I’ll off to the gym again.
Thank goodness you’re on holiday!
Kate
katethebake.blogspot.com

Hi David,
One of our bakers, Tim, created a dessert special for Royal Street Cafe at Deer Valley last week. He put the caramelized white chocolate ice cream in a chocolate tart shell and served a wedge of it with a fresh peach compote. We kept it on for 2 weeks it was so good. He added some brandy to your recipes.
Love,
Letty

I tried out this ice cream last weekend with some 30% cocoa butter white chocolate. For whatever reason, it was fairly dry while caramelizing and ended up somewhat darker / more burnt-looking when it eventually liquefied. I added a couple of tablespoons of Frangelico to the recipe, which gave it a slightly nutty edge. I was worried that the ice cream would taste too bitter/burnt, but my family devoured it and I’ve made a large new batch for a dinner party this week, which I’m pairing with your Chocolate Sherbet.

Anyhow, I just wanted to say thanks for your blog and the excellent recipes. I’ve now ordered a copy of The Perfect Scoop.

Made some caramelized white chocolate ice cream and it turned out well. The texture was a little “chunky” but it melted well with the custard. It was well received but got beat out by a pomegranate cream ice cream I made. I also made a caramel apple ice cream recipe I found that bombed so back to the drawing board.

Next up, yerba mate ice cream with a special request to go vegan with almond milk.

And as for the left over caramelized white chocolate, I ate it :) Yum!

Great website and fabulous pictures, I definitely cannot view this site while hungry. My comment is a troubleshooting question with regards to the caramelized white chocolate ice cream recipe. As background, I have a KRUPS ice cream maker here at home (US) with freezer bowl and electric paddle, etc. I have made both the french-style and philadelphia-style ice creams before in this machine without issue.

My friend and I made this recipe yesterday, including your caramelized white chocolate recipe (we had no problems at all, came out exactly as stated and delicious). We made the ice cream base per instructions immediately after finishing the CWC, since it was warm, and then chilled the mixture in the fridge for about 3 1/2 hrs. As a side note, my freezer bowl was chilling for about 10 hours. Now here was our issue. The ice cream never really harden enough to eat that evening, even after letting it churn for 1 hour (in the past, my ice creams have harden enough to stop the paddle in about 20-40 mins). It had the ice cream texture, but was kind of like yogurt in consistency. To solve the problem, we put the freezer bowl and mixture in the freezer over night and woke up the next morning to delicious ice cream (consistency was between hard and soft, just as I have had in the past immediately after churning – so it did not become super hard while sitting in the freezer as is usual). Since I have not had this issue, my question to you is have you had this problem with this or any of your other ice cream recipes, and if so, why do you believe it happens? In the end it turned out wonderfully the next day, but we were dying for our ice cream last night and my friend left this morning with only having had 1 small scoop – which bummed us out the most.

You can cook it in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, which takes a lot longer however, but is a lower heat. You can rescue a curdled custard by whizzing it up with an immersion blender while it’s warm to smooth it out.

(If you use a regular blender, take precaution to cover the blender and not to fill it more than half full, draping a kitchen towel over the top to prevent splattering.)

Hi David – I think you are exactly right on my question, that I did not freeze the bowl long enough. For some reason I thought it was only 10 -12 hours, until I read through my instruction manual again after my husband thought the same thing as you. I appreciate your response and I feel bad that my friend is missing out on the ice cream, the flavor is really amazing, despite my mistake. My husband cannot get enough of it and we look forward to making more of your recipes with a correctly frozen freezer bowl next time ;) Thanks again!